Travelling the Thames

On June 3, 2012, the River Thames was host to one of the largest flotillas in history. Over 1,000 boats participated and the flotilla stretched 7 miles, from Battersea to the Tower Bridge. This pageant was part of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee celebration, and while it might have been one of the biggest, it was certainly not the first.

The River Thames has been the thoroughfare for many national events over London's long history. Everything from the lord mayor's show to state funerals have been held on the Thames. One famous funeral procession to take place on the Thames was Lord Nelson's. Kings and Queens have used the Thames for hundreds of years for celebrations and ceremonies. They felt that these events would bring the citizens closer to them and to their capital.

I spent some time on the River Thames today. After a failed attempt to view some of the Olympic Park, we ended up in Greenwich, home of the Prime Meridian and the National Maritime Museum. While the Royal Observatory is closed because of Olympics prep, we were able to pop into the Maritime Museum for a little while. I was inspired when I saw an exhibition sign on the entrance - Royal River: Power, Pageantry and the Thames. I will have to go back to view the exhibit, but it gave me something to think about while we took one of the Thames Clipper ships back towards where we are staying. I knew that the Thames had been used as a "road" to avoid the dirty, over-crowded streets of the city, but I never thought much about how it had been used for royal and national events. I was lucky to see some of the Diamond Jubilee flotilla on TV, but being on the river brings home just how big the event was. Below are some of my photos that I took while on the river.

Tower Bridge

Traitor's Gate - Tower of London

Shakespeare's Globe